The Other Valley cover art

The Other Valley

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Other Valley

By: Scott Alexander Howard
Narrated by: Alexandra Boulton
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.99

Buy Now for £13.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Sixteen-year-old Odile Ozanne is an awkward, quiet girl, but everyone knows she's destined to land a coveted seat on the Conseil. In her apprenticeship, she competes to become one of the judges to decide who amongst the town's residents may travel across the border. If she earns the position, she'll decree who may be escorted deep into the woods, who may cross the border's barbed wire fence, who may make the arduous trek over the western mountain range—or perhaps the eastern range—to descend into the next valley over. It's the same valley, the same town. However, to the east, the town is twenty years ahead in time. To the west, it's twenty years behind. The towns repeat in an endless sequence across the wilderness. The only border crossings permitted by the Conseil are mourning tours: furtive viewings of the dead in towns where the dead are still alive.

Odile, wise beyond her years, will surely pass the Conseil's vetting. But when she happens upon a mourning tour she wasn't supposed to see, she realizes her dear friend Edme's parents have crossed the border from the east, from twenty years in the future, to view their son still alive in Odile's present. Edme, who's so funny and light. Edme, who's a violin virtuoso at just sixteen. Edme, who's the first boy to even see Odile, to really like her.... And it's Edme who's going to die.

Sworn to secrecy by the Conseil in order to preserve the timeline, Odile finds herself drawn even closer to the doomed boy. When Edme dies far sooner than Odile expects, when she does nothing to thwart his fate, she's deeply shaken. The loss, her foreknowledge, the weight of her rare and varied grief all throw Odile's own future, her adult life, into a devastating, downward spiral.

©2024 Scott Alexander Howard (P)2024 W.F.Howes Ltd
Coming of Age Destiny Literary Fiction Time Travel Funny
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Lake of Darkness cover art
The Great When cover art
The Mercy of Gods cover art
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) cover art
The Thing Itself cover art
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street cover art
And Put Away Childish Things cover art

What listeners say about The Other Valley

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great take on time travel

Disregarding the question of how the setup of the multi time zones exists (you just have to take a leap, this is as much an exploration of the limits of sci-fi narrative - and you feel complicit with the author about this) it’s also a wonderful romantic journey into loneliness and love in a totalitarian state. I can’t wait for my daughter to be old enough to read this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of the best books I’ve read this year

I loved this book. Such an interesting idea of time travel, drew me in straight away. The ending is gripping and I was on tenterhooks to finish as fast as possible and see what happened. I will read again at a slower pace in a few months. Simply wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

plot + prose 👌

tight prose + appealing & satisfying plot. will re-listen. if you like the watchmaker of filigree street you (natasha pulley) you’ll enjoy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely superb

Brilliant, thought provoking and incredibly believable. The narrator has a wonderful way of speaking with an almost angel like tone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A bit dry till it isn’t

I almost DNFed this book as the first part is very dry, however things pick up after a time jump in the second part and the ending was very satisfying.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent premise

Narrated by a lady who my hubby found a little monotone, but as the protagonist is female and the book pace steady I found it acceptable. The story was engaging throughout.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Really struggled with this book

I found the writing style irritating and the narrator monotonous but persevered purely because I was intrigued to know how the story ended. Not a book I can recommend unfortunately

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Seriously???

Such an incredible idea, but wasted on such a boring story.
Seriously, nothing happens.
I fell asleep more times than I can count. Style over substance to say the least. What a waste of 10 hours.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

didn't finish

Ended up leaving the book 5 hours from the end, I just felt like it wasn't going anywhere sadly. I'd been looking forward to this one for a while.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!